Revision as of 01:03, 22 April 2009

Welsh (Welsh: Cymraeg) is a language spoken by around 21% of the population in Wales in addition to English. It is also spoken by several thousand people in the Chubut province of Argentina, as well as by substantial numbers of people scattered around the world. All Welsh speakers old enough to attend school in Wales also speak English, while those in Argentina speak Spanish.

Pronunciation guide

Welsh is a relatively phonetic language, with most letters having only one pronunciation. Complications arise with the various double consonants, particularly "dd" which is represented in English as "th" as in "breathe", while "th" is represented in English as "th" as in "think"; "ll" is a famously difficult (and common) sound for non-Welsh speakers to produce - made by positioning the tongue at the top front of the mouth and blowing, and represented here as "lh". "Ch" is always pronounced like the German name "Bach" or the Scottish "loch"; the sound which appears in the English word "church" is represented by "ts".

There are relatively minor pronunciation differences between northern and southern Welsh, most notably that "i" and "u" are two distinct sounds in the north, while in the south both letters are pronounced as "i".

Unless overridden by an accent mark, the stress in Welsh words always falls on the last but one syllable of a word. As syllables get added to words, for example to denote a plural or a female person of a particular occupation, the sound of a word can change dramatically.

The letters j and v do not exist in normal Welsh usage, but have been adopted from English for limited use e.g. in personal names. "K" is regarded as redundant in Welsh as the sound is always represented by "c", but it is found in the prefix "kilo-", although "cilo-" is always acceptable.

Grammatically, Welsh is relatively complex with two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, which all nouns are assigned to, and also masculine and feminine forms of the numbers "two" "three" and "four" which have to match the gender of the object being counted; there are also two separate counting systems, decimal (base 10) and the more traditional vigesimal (base 20). The phenomenon of mutation is a characteristic of the Celtic languages, where the initial letters of words change depending on the grammar of the sentence, which can make tracking words down in a dictionary difficult.

Vowels

Vowels in Welsh can have accent marks, most commonly the circumflex (^), called the tô bach (little roof), which lengthens the sound of the vowel, and the acute (´), which shortens it. Occasionally the diaresis appears on the letter ï, to signify a doubling of the sound. Vowel sounds tend to resemble those of major continental European languages rather than English.

There are seven vowels in Welsh, which have both short and long forms:

a

like "a" in "and"

e

like "eh"

i

like "ee" in "see"

o

like "oh"

u

like a very tight, frontal "oo" sound (purse your lips as if to say "oo" as in "soon" but try and say "ee")

w

like "oo" as in "moon"

y

either "uh", or like "ee" in "see" (note that the short form varies depending on where it is in the word. If "y" is in the final syllable and is followed by a consonant, it's pronounced like the "i" in "bin". A common example containing both short forms is the word for valley, dyffryn, which is pronounced "DUFF-rin")

Consonants

b

like "b" in "bed"

c

like "c" in "cat"

ch

like "ch" in German "Bach" or Scottish "loch"

d

like "d" in "death"

dd

like "th" in "the"

f

like "v" in "van"

ff

like "f" in "fun"

g

like "g" in "garden"

ng

like "ng" in "pong"

h

like "h" in "heart"

l

like "l" in "link"

ll

place the tongue at the top of the mouth, and blow.

m

like "m" in "meet"

n

like "n" in "news"

p

like "p" in "pen"

ph

like "f" in "fun"; only found in words of Greek origin, or at the beginning of words as a mutated "p".

r

like "r" in "range"

rh

an aspirated, breathy "r"

s

like "s" in "state"

t

like "t" in "time"

th

like "th" in "think"

Common diphthongs

ae

aaye (long "a" sound) in the north; like "eye" in the south.

ai

like "eye"

au

like "aye", with a rounded closing sound. When used as the plural marker, often pronounced "ah" in the north and "eh" in the south.

aw

like "ow!"

ei

like "ey" in "hey!"

eu

like "ey" in "hey!", but with a rounded closing sound.

ew

like "eh-oo" said quickly.

ey

like "ey" in "hey!"

iw

like "you"

oe

like "oy" in "boy"

oi

like "oy" in "boy"

ou

like "oy" in "boy"

uw

like "you"

wy

like "oo-ee"

yw

like "you"

The differences between some of the dipthongs are very subtle and virtually indistinguishable.

Phrase list

Basics

Hello.

Helo. (Hello)

Hello. (informal)

S'mae? (s-my? (north) shoo-my? (south))

How are you?

S'mae? (s-my? (north) shoo-my? (south))

Fine, thank you.

iawn, diolch. (yown, dee-ol'ch)

What is your name?

Be' dy'ch enw chi? (bay di'ch enoo ch'ee?)

My name is ______ .

______ yw f'enw i. (_____ you ven-oo ee.)

Nice to meet you.

Braf cwrdd â chi. (Brahv corth ah khi)

Please.

Os gwelwch chi'n dda. ()

Thank you [very much].

Diolch [yn fawr]. (dee-ol'ch [un vowr])

You're welcome.

Croeso. (CROY-so)

There are no exact equivalents of "yes" and "no" in Welsh; the concept is conveyed grammatically by indicating agreement or disagreement e.g. "yes there is" or "no there is not", which is said in different ways depending on how the question was phrased. If the question begins "Oes...?" or "A oes...?" ("Is there...?") then the reply is "oes" or "nac oes"; if the question begins "Ydy...?" ("Is...?") or a construct beginning with "ydy" e.g. "Ydych...?" ("Do you...?") then the reply is "ydy" or "nac ydy"

Writing time and date

Dates are written day/month/year. So if you see 04-12-2003, you know that's y pedwerydd o Rhagfyr, not April 12. A date (18-12-1963) fully spelled out is y deunawfed o Rhagfyr mil naw chwe' thri (you specify the number of thousands, then the individual number of the hundreds, tens, and units; for years from 2000 onwards say "dwy fil" (two thousand) followed by the significant number, omitting the zeroes - thus 2005 is "dwy fil a pump" (two thousand and five), compared with 1987 which was "mil naw wyth saith" ((one) thousand nine eight seven). Ordinals are

1st - 1af, cyntaf

2nd - 2il, ail

3rd - 3ydd, trydydd

4th - 4ydd, pedwerydd

5th - 5ed, pumed

6th - 6fed or 6ed, chwechfed

7th - 7fed or 7ed, saithfed

8th - 8fed or 8ed, wythfed

9th - 9fed or 9ed, nawfed

10th - 10fed or 10ed, degfed

Times are either written in the 24 hour clock or with hours and minutes separated by a colon or dot and suffixed by "y.b." (y bore) or "y.p." (y p'nawn), equivalent to "a.m." and "p.m.".

Colors

black

du (dee)

white

gwyn (m) / gwen (f) (gwin/gwen)

gray

llwyd (lh'oo-id)

red

coch (KO'ch)

blue

glas (glaas) - note that this word is also used to describe the colour of grass.

Bars

Shopping

Siopiau-shops

siop-shop

penis-pydyn

rydw i'n hoffy pydyn mochyn daer sugyn- i like sucking badger penis

Ydych chi'n dori ac yn dwat? Do you have the Telegraph?

Driving

Authority

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